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In light of the spread of Covid-19’s Omicron variant across the world, the US has decided to impose testing requirements for all international travellers. This follows moves by several other countries, including India that has mandated additional travel restrictions for passengers coming in from ‘at-risk’ countries.
In a tweet early Friday, US President Joe Biden said: “I’m announcing today that all inbound international travelers must test within one day of departure — regardless of vaccination status or nationality. This tighter testing timeline provides an added degree of protection as scientists continue to study the Omicron variant”.
As per Reuters, the new rules requiring international air travellers arriving in the US to obtain a negative COVID-19 test within one day of travel will take effect Monday at 12:01am ET.
Earlier, vaccinated international air travellers could enter the US with the result of a test done within three days of their departure. Also, earlier this week, the US administration said it would bar nearly all foreign nationals from entering the US from eight southern African countries over fears of the spread of the Omicron variant, but it did not extend those travel restrictions to other countries where the new variant has been discovered.
Even as the Indian government has moved to impose testing requirements on international air travellers from ‘at-risk’ countries, the country reported its first Omicron positive patient in Karnataka on Thursday. Last week, India had announced resumption of scheduled commercial international flights effective December 15 but decided to put the restart into abeyance on account of the evolving Omicron situation.
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